I started by trying to backup the NVRAM partition as in the guide above, and went exactly according to the instructions ('click the Read Back button, connect your Gemini to your PC and restart the Gemini')

Upon the reboot I got a 'BROM' error as mentioned at the beginning of the guide, so I continued by following the linked forum topic 'https://forum.xda-developers.com/general/rooting-roms/tutorial-how-to-setup-spflashtoollinux-t3160802/page16'.

This was on a Ubuntu 17.10 system.

After trying out the instructions from post https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpos...tcount=153 (both adding my user to the dialout group, and creating the udev users files) - with the difference that instead of downloading the logo file I always tested by trying to back up the NVRAM partition - with the same steps as above. I kept getting the same error. I also tried ideas posted later in that forum topic.

Note that I am not getting the same BROM error as mentioned in that post or the posts before it. I am getting:

This error was also encountered by an Arch user on the next page in the same forum topic, and the solution for him was apparently running as root. This did not work for me (tried both with sudo and running directly as root, as well as normal user - which should work since I added my user to the dialout group as mentioned above.

Following this I also tried all the same steps on another machine running Ubuntu 16.04 (where I added missing libpng to make the flash tool work) and on the original machine with Manjaro 17.1.10- where I used the Arch-specific instructions from the forum topic (Manjaro is derived from Arch).

I also tried using USB 2.0 port on my PC as it was mentioned WRT some other issue but I don't see how that would affect this.

I keep getting exactly the same error in all these attempts, so the problem is probably somewhere else.

Currently I'm still stuck at the point where I'm trying to readback the NVRAM partition, with the same error as above - did not try to flash anything yet.

I'm wondering what applications and desktop environment come with the Debian image for the Gemini? Is there a list somewhere?

From videos I have seen, it looks like it comes with the XFCE desktop, is that the case? I was just wondering why perhaps Gnome 3 wasn't chosen as the default, as it is quite keyboard and touchscreen friendly, and possibly also more suited to physically smaller displays than some environments.

Do programs like Firefox, Thunderbird, Libre Office come already installed, or is the install fairly minimalist so as not to take up too much space with the initial install?

When I first booted my Gemini (into Android) the language selection screen was in German (described as "Deutsch (Austria)" (I think the "Deutsch" was indeed 'auf Deutsch' in the menu, but it might actually have said "German"), which was a little unexpected. I do realise that I am showing some anglocentrism here, however!

For someone with no knowledge of German, this might have been a little problematic, as the only other language shown in the drop-down menu was "English (Austria)". Luckily I speak enough German that I could understand the "Choose another language" button (which definitely was written in German ('Andere Sprach wahlen" or similar, I can't remember exactly)), and so then select "English (UK)" as the default language, from a full list of languages. (I'm not sure why "English (Austria)" was the only other option, but it seemed that it would be instinctively wrong to have chosen it.)

I don't know if this is the default chosen because of the particular model of my Gemini (US keyboard, with Europlug), or if it is the default for some other models as well?

We are probably all familiar, when encountering an unexpected language, to scrolling through the language list to choose our preferred language, but if the initial list only includes a small subset of languages, we then need to be able to recognise the means to select from the other languages available, to choose our preferred language. As I said, this wasn't a significant problem for me, but as many people around the world probably do not know any German at all, but, due to the history of the tech history and the status of English as a lingua franca, they probably would be able to recognise enough English to be able to find the "Choose another language" button if it was written in English. I would be interested to know if this is how all, or only some, Geminis are initially shipped?

I then had the problem of confirming my keyboard layout: I don't know if the US keyboard was set correctly out of the box or not, but I was able to (re?)confirm this after bodging through the keyboard preferences somehow (which is quite confusing in itself): it was a bit puzzling that the layout was described as English (but with with no country-specific suffix) until I selected "English (US)" explicitly (and I think it was pre-set as "Use system languages", which in my case would probably have been incorrect because of the difference between my locale language and my keyboard layout). My keyboard does seem to be working correctly as US, but it was a slightly confusing process (especially as there are also both "Google" and "AOSP" on-screen keyboards that can be configured separately). This may just be my unfamiliarity with the Android settings menus, however.

I am just mentioning these mainly because they might be something that might need a little more work to become more user-friendly when a new owner boots up their Gemini for the first time?